Kontakt 8 - is it better or is it just chasing an imagined trend?

dragsquares

I was hoping for more capacity for more complex scripting, and perhaps more modules within for more kinds of synthesis or other things, or an overhauled audio output system. Can't tell if any of that is there. But all I see is generative tools. It seems like NI want to increase their user base to include more and more folks who aren't particularly musical and give them buttons to push that make them feel like creators - though it's called providing "inspiration", it seems to go far beyond that. Is this what we need, really? Aren't we just going to be seeing more music that's more and more the same as a result of this?

It seems to me that ultimately this path will harm the industry because of the averaging-effect of generative tools, and will eventually the company - because of generating false expectations of growth where it's finite unless the nature of the company is changed to just making general consumers feel like they are making things. Sure, the market will be expanded for a time, but at some point it seems like there will be a decision made to either stick to core competency or to chase AI trends, and folks who play their instruments and compose with them, in whatever style, will be left behind in the latter instance.

Professional users can of course ignore the bloating of the software for some amount of time, and just use Kontakt to play the libraries we need, but if it starts to become intrusive or falls behind in basic functionality or only grows in ways that serve one-finger users, that would be a shame - especially because so many of us have based our templates on this platform. In my personal opinion the shuffling around of the interface in the name of making library access more easy hasn't gone so well, and it appears that rather than making the code more robust we now have extra features that rely on brute force from computers instead of being optimized.

So what's the goal here? Why add a ton of mini-sequencers to an instrument? Why not just make NI's own sequencing platform, and keep all of the generative bells and whistles in that software, and leave us with powerful individual instruments that aren't trying to balance ten spinning plates on its fingertips? This could have been just an update to Komplete Kontrol.

If you like generative tools, you do you, I guess - I don't want to debate why it's in many ways a bad idea for music. The question here is why Kontakt 8 is doing this instead of something else like Komplete Kontrol, which could add all of these features to every instrument but not change their natures.

Rembi

I agree with your points.

True innovation would mean the development of a unique sequencing platform. I am lost when it comes to the upgrades because most instruments andsounds can be adjusted with effects either within themselves or through other tools or uusing Komplete Kontrol knowledgeably.

As a long time user it simply irks me to be charged upgrade pricing for many instruments / expansions I alreadyy paid for. Surely someone could figure out what each user owns already and adjust prices accordingly. Now there's a revelation - let AI go to work on straightening out users real needs and pricing.

Still, I'm with you, sign me up for the camp that is oriented to designing and selling NI innovation.